Wheel wobble. bent rim or something else? Best place to get TD pro race 2 wheel?
 

Back in October when I was on the dyno I noticed my rear wheel wobbling. The old rotor that was on the car at the time had its slots worn almost smooth in an area that was less than the pad surface area. I would call it an unusually deep grove when compared to the passenger side that was uniformly worn, and no where near through the slots on the rotor.

I changed rotors and pads to see what would happen. Now months later I get a horrid squeak, squeak, squeak sound that increases in frequency with speed. I've pulled the wheel a couple of times to see if there is anything blatantly obvious. Nothing. When I reinstall the wheel I tried to shake it every which way to see if it was a bearing. Feels perfect, no unusual movement. I also added anti squeak gel to the brake components each time, and this completely eliminates the squeak for a short period of time. This is telling me that the brake pad is being moved around. Is a warped/bent wheel enough to cause the rotor to wear against the pad funny? Rotors and pads went on at the same time, and were new. I followed proper bed-in procedure.

I am about to order a new wheel, but I don't want to spend the $150 on a wheel if it doesn't solve the problem. Any ideas?????

I would take the tire/wheel assembly to a tire shop that has a road force balancer first. They should be able to absolutely confirm/deny if there is any problem with the wheel/tire assembly.

good idea. I think this should have been seen when they were balanced, but I guess if they just put the hood down and walk away........ Or maybe Costco doesn't have road force balancer.

Update:

I took the above advice and got the wheel put on a road force balancer. The guy said there is an extremely slight bend in the lip at one point. When I told him what was going on, he said "No way is that causing your problem, it's not bent nearly enough." He is convinced it is the wheel bearing. I told him that I shook the wheel to and there was no play. His response was that since the axle goes through the bearing, then I would not get the "play" that I was looking for. To the parts store tonight. Thanks for the advice. Saved me some coin.

:bigtu:

I've done significantly more research. By this I mean searching for these symptoms. Wheel bearing doesn't seem to quite fit, but a bent axle does. Either way, I didn't needlessly purchase a wheel.

Now I'll probably get to experience the fun of changing an axle.

i am having the same problem right now. I changed my rear left caliper becuase it got froze up and was grinding on my rotor. so i replaced the caliper, rotors and chagned the rear pads then noticed i was getting this annoying squeek sound. its not the bearing because i already replaced that but the weird thing is that the squeek goes away when i am pressing the brake pedal.

i think its the pad sticking the the rotor and causing the squeek and clank noise from moving around on the caliper. i duno how im going to fix it.

Mine does too. The squeaking comes from the brake pad being move back and forth as the rotor is hitting it. I bet if you apply some anti squeal to the back of the pad it goes away for a while. I noticed the wheel wobble while I was at the dyno. I figured it was a slightly bent wheel. I never caused any problem, so I figured I would get around to ordering a new one eventually. From different forum discussions about this problem across many different car models and manufacturers it always seems to point to a bent axle. I will confirm this tonight.

did u figure this out?

Not yet, I thought I could see a slight bend in the shaft, but not sure. Then I decided to just replace it. Now I am realizing how difficult it is to find the 94 -3/95 half shafts. It looks like I will have to have it rebuilt.

I will replace the hub bearing at the same time. It was a bitch removing the axle nut because the last person beat it to shit. This is now looking like a $200 job. No parts places seem to carry the half shafts.

EDIT: I pulled the shaft tonight, and it looks straight. I think the first mechanic was right. I can now feel a little movement in the hub. I'm paying someone to press out he bearing and put it a new one. I'm also going to have my half shaft rebuilt ($85). Might as well if it is out of the car.

Axle is apparently ok. New bearign was pressed into the hub. I'll know sometime this weekend if the bearing is the problem. Bearing ($40) Cost to have it pressed in ($45)

ftr - my 1st guess was bearing. good luck.

i really dont know how my shit keeps squeeking, im gona have to take it somewhere and see if they can figure it out. have u had any luck?

Sorry, about the late update. I've still got the wobble, but it is better. I swapped wheels from left to right, and the wobble did not go with the wheel. I think the actual hub is bent, which eventually caused the bearing to loosen up, which caused the wobble.

I'm going to take it to the guy that pressed in the bearing to see what his explanation is going to be if the hub is bent. Seriously, press in a bearing after I explain that I am chasing a wobble and don't check the hub and (whatever it is that the bearing presses into???

I believe the bearing can be reused, so if he comps the labor to repress it in after I buy a hub, then I'll be ok. I'm quite fast now at getting the rear assembly apart and back together.

It's the hub, I bet the inner races are broken on the bearing. Most of the ones I've destroyed cracked the inner race from lube failure or contamination. I recommend you order the hubs on the cheap and get bearings from O'Reilly. The have "National" brand bearings that are heat treated and American made in NC. You should also repack with Amsoil grease so they last forever.

I've done this a few times, so here are a few more tips:

• You also want the updated, NB style circlips and replace the seals (you need badass circplip pliars for the old ones.
• The local 20-ton press could not get the job done, even with mineral oil as lube.
• I think a sledge-hammer is more effective than a press. I've frozen the bearing in the freezer, lubed the spindle, and it still won't go in without the sledge hammer.
• If you can weld, you can easily make a jig to hold the spindle to hammer the bearings out.
• If you don't repack with AMSoil Race/2000 grease, you're a moron.

I thought that the rear bearings were sealed? I think the piece that the wheel studs are attached to is bent, or the knuckle itself is bad. This is a phone response, so forgive errors

All of our bearings are "sealed", you can still take them apart and put good grease in them. The part the studs attach to is the hub, if it's bent there's a damn good chance the bearing is screwed up too. When you pull that hub the outboard, inner race will come out too and probably shatter when you press it off the hub to reuse it.

Even if your rear wheel bearing is good, it's a 20-year old car with 20-year old bearings, it's time to replace them rather than do it twice.

let me know if replacing the hub fixes ur problem. I did the bearing because i was getting alot of noise and ti got rid of it. but ever since i changed the caliper the rotor doesnt seem to line up when it spins and rubs the pad so i think i might need to change my hub also.

Ok, that is what is happening to me. Pad keeps getting bumped and causing a chirp.

any updates?